Sherwoods

LATEST ARTICLES ( 620 )

• Summer Bedtimes

  Astana is, by far, the most northern place we've ever lived. Brandon and I have, surprisingly, spent a lot of our marriage hanging out around 40 degrees... Read more

  Posted on 11 June 2023 FAMILY, PARENTING

• Spring, the Best and Worst Season

  Spring has finally arrived in Astana. The nights are above freezing, and all of the trees have started leafing out. We have our windows open all the time,... Read more

  Posted on 07 May 2023 FAMILY, PARENTING

• Edwin Wins the Prize

  There are certain milestones that come with parenting. Some milestones are good ones - first smile, first piano recital, first day of school. Read more

  Posted on 30 April 2023 FAMILY, PARENTING

• Thailand

  

  This year for spring break, we went to Thailand. We've enjoyed our spring break trips for the past two years, and so I've decided to make it a family tradition. Read more

  Posted on 02 April 2023 FAMILY, PARENTING

• Halfway Done With Winter

  We are now halfway through our first winter here in Astana. I have been afraid of winter ever since we got this assignment back in 2021, so it's a bit of a... Read more

  Posted on 29 January 2023 FAMILY, PARENTING

• Paris

  

  When my aunt and Uncle visited Uzbekistan last April, I took the three oldest children with for an overnight trip to Khiva with our visitors. Read more

  Posted on 15 January 2023 FAMILY, PARENTING

• First Impressions of Winter

  Winter in Astana is a serious thing. When we would talk about various places we could live in, Astana was in my bottom five, along with Nigeria and New Guinea... Read more

  Posted on 04 December 2022 FAMILY, PARENTING

• Eagle Hunting

  

  This past Saturday we got to go on a little trip out of town to see some traditional Kazakh activities. Kazakhs are very proud of their nomad heritage and we... Read more

  Posted on 18 September 2022 FAMILY, PARENTING

• Canning Day

  

  I am, generally, not a big canner. I learned how to can from my mother, who grew up canning. When I was a child, we would have various days - applesauce day,... Read more

  Posted on 04 September 2022 FAMILY, PARENTING

• Stuff!

  

  On Tuesday, our stuff finally arrived from Tashkent. I'm not quite sure how it took five weeks to travel 1000 miles, which averages out to 28 miles a day, but... Read more

  Posted on 28 August 2022 FAMILY, PARENTING

• Hello, Fall!

  When we decided to come to Nur-Sultan, we knew that it would be cold. It is, after all, the second coldest capital city in the world. Once November hits, the... Read more

  Posted on 21 August 2022 FAMILY, PARENTING

• Sweet Sixteen

  

  This week, Kathleen turned sixteen. It seems like it wasn't that long ago that I was dropped into the crazy, sleep-deprived world of being a new parent. Read more

  Posted on 14 August 2022 FAMILY, PARENTING

• Hello, Kazakhstan!

  We have now been in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan for seventeen days now and everyone is fairly settled in. Kazakhstan is the biggest -stan country in Central Asia,... Read more

  Posted on 07 August 2022 FAMILY, PARENTING

• Farewell, Tashkent

  Tomorrow morning, a team of movers will show up at our house to pack everything we own in a flurry of paper, boxes and tape. I've spent the last week preparing... Read more

  Posted on 17 July 2022 FAMILY, PARENTING

• Happy Birthday, Sophia!

  

  Sophia's birthday was also back in May, but we didn't celebrate it in May either. She wanted to wait and celebrate it with her grandparents. Read more

  Posted on 13 June 2022 FAMILY, PARENTING

• My Parents Visit, Again

  

  Every year we've been in the Foreign Service (all thirteen of them), we've been able to go back to the US for a visit. It hasn't always been at the same time,... Read more

  Posted on 13 June 2022 FAMILY, PARENTING

• Happy Birthday, Eleanor

  

  Eleanor had her birthday back in May, more than a month ago. She had a pretty good birthday and got to go out to dinner to the local amusement park for her... Read more

  Posted on 13 June 2022 FAMILY, PARENTING

• Cleaning out the House

  This week I started cleaning out the house. Cleaning out the house is one of the Dreaded Tasks of moving. The State Department will pay to ship our stuff... Read more

  Posted on 22 May 2022 FAMILY, PARENTING

• Khiva

  

  A few weeks ago, I was able to take Kathleen, Sophia, and Edwin to Khiva, the smallest of the Silk Road cities. My aunt and uncle came out for their own Silk... Read more

  Posted on 08 May 2022 FAMILY, PARENTING

• Ashley Sherwood, International Russian Translator

  

  My Russian is terrible. I've given up hope that I will ever be anything approaching good at Russian, but I still study it because it's so painful to be so bad... Read more

  Posted on 24 April 2022 FAMILY, PARENTING